Current collapsible prosthetic heart valve designs are for use within patients who may need a valve replacement (e.g., an aortic valve replacement), but who are not treated adequately by other means. A collapsible prosthetic heart valve is designed to be delivered into the patient in a collapsed condition via tube-like delivery apparatus. In the collapsed condition the valve has a reduced annular, radial, or circumferential size. Delivery of the valve into the patient can be less invasive than traditional open-chest/open-heart surgery. When the valve reaches the intended implant site in the patient, the valve re-expands or is expanded (e.g., balloon expanded) to operating size. The collapsing and re-expansion of the valve are preferably elastic, but may alternatively be plastic, the result of shape-memory properties of certain components of the valve, or various combinations of elastic, plastic, and/or shape-memory. Again, plastic expansion may be as a result of inflation of a balloon that is temporarily disposed inside the valve. Known designs of this general kind can be implanted percutaneously, trans-apically, or surgically, with or without resected and/or debrided native heart valve leaflets.